Richardsonian Romanesque
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Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of American architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston (1872–77).
This very free revival style incorporates 11th century southern French and Spanish Romanesque characteristics. It emphasizes clear strong picturesque massing, round-headed "Romanesque" arches, often springing from clusters of short squat columns, recessed entrances, richly varied rustication, boldly blank stretches of walling contrasting with bands of windows, and cylindrical towers with conical caps embedded in the walling.
The style epitomizes work by the generation of architects practicising in the 1880s— before the influx of Beaux-Arts styles— such as J. Cleaveland Cady of Cady, Bird and See in New York City, whose American Museum of Natural History's original 77th Street range epitomizes "Richardsonian Romanesque." The style influenced the Chicago school of architecture and architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. In Finland, Eliel Saarinen was influenced by Richardson.
Research is currently ongoing to try and document the westward movement of the artisans and craftsmen, mostly immigrant Italians and Irish, who built in the Richardsonian Romanesque tradition. The style began in the East, in and around Boston and while it was losing favor there it was gaining popularity further west. Thus the stone carvers and masons appear to have surfed the style west until it died out in the early years of the 20th century.
For pictures of H.H. Richardson’s own designs and some of the details, see Henry Hobson Richardson.
Images
References
- Kelsey, Mavis P. and Donald H. Dyal, The Courthouses of Texas: A Guide, Texas A&M University Press, College Station Texas 1993 ISBN 93007022
- Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, Architectural Sculpture in America unpublished manuscript
- Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, Starkweather Memorial Chapel, Highland Cemetery, Ypsilanti, Michigan, Unpublished paper 1983
- Larson, Paul C., Editor, with Susan Brown, The Spirit of H.H. Richardson on the Midwest Prairies, University Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneopolis and Iowa State University Press, Ames 1988
- Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, H.H.Richardson: Complete Architectural Works, MIT Press, Cambridge MA 1984 ISBN 82006603
- Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, and Andersen, Dennis Alan, Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and the Legacy of H. H. Richardson, University of Washington Press, Seattle WA 2003 ISBN 0295982381
- Van Rensselaer, Mariana Griswold, Henry Hobson Richardson and His Works, Dover Publications, Inc. NY 1959 (Reprint of 1888 edition) ISBN 68012915
| Revival styles in 19th-century architecture | |
|---|---|
| Neo-Classicism: | Directoire and Empire • Regency • Egyptian Revival • Greek Revival and Neo-Grec |
| Neo-Romanesque and Byzantine Revival: | Richardsonian Romanesque • Russo-Byzantine • Muscovite Revival |
| Gothic Revival: | Scottish Baronial • Tudorbethan • Muscovite Gothic • Moorish Revival • Indo-Saracenic |
| Neo-Renaissance: | Italianate • Second Empire • Chateauesque • Jacobethan |
| Neo-Baroque and 18th century: | Beaux-Arts • Wrenaissance • Queen Anne • Georgian Revival • Colonial Revival |
External links
- [Digital archive of American architecture:] Richardsonian Romanesque
- [Richardsonian Romanesque described and illustrated by buildings in Buffalo, New York]
- [Starkweather Chapel, Ypsilanti, Michigan]
- [Pueblo Union Depot]
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